Means for gathering and destroying potato-bugs.



No. 883,618. 'PATENTED MAR. 31, 1908.

' A. J. BUHLER.

MEANS FOR GATHERING AND DESTROYING POTATO BUGS. A'rrmoulqn rum; runs.190?.

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No. 883,618. PATENTBD MAR. 31, 1908.

' A. J. BUHLBR.

MEANS FOR GATHERING AND DESTROYING POTATO BUGS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29, 1907.

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ABRAHAM .T. BUHLER, OF HARRIS, MINNESOTA.

MEANS FOR GATHERING AND DESTROYING POTATO-BUGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 31, 1908.

Application filed January 29, 1907. Serial No. 354,668.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM J. BUHLER, a citizen of United States,residing at Harris, in the county of Chisago, State of Minnesota, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Gathering andDestroying Potato-Bugs; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers'skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention has relation to means for gathering and destroyingpotato-bugs; the object of the invention being to provide a light,strong and efficient implement that may be drawn by a horse between therows of growing vines, and strike or brush the bugs therefrom into a panarranged between the wheels from which they may be taken and killed inany desirable way.

The nature of the invention is to be ascertained from the implementillustrated in the annexed drawings, forming a part of this secification, in view of which it will first be r escribed with respectto its construction and mode of operation and) then be pointed out inthe subjoined claims.

Of the said drawingsFigure 1 is a side elevation of the implementembodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal Fig. 3 is aplan. Fig. 4 is a front view. Fig. 5 is a rear view.

Similar numerals of reference designate similar parts or features, asthe case may be, wherever they occur.

In the drawings '10 designates the ground wheels of the implement whichare constructed and arranged to turn on the spindles 11 of an upwardlybowed axle 12. The wheels 10 are disposed preferably at a distance farenough apart to have two rows of vines 13 pass between them, and theaxle extends high enough between the wheels to not only pass over thevines, but to have the means for gathering the bugs pass beneath thesame.

A rectangular frame 14, is supported on the axle and extends forwardlyand rearwardly of the same, and is provided at its sides with steelstraps 15 which extend down to and support the pan 16, which may bearranged on a plane near the ground. The pan has raised sides 16 and isdivided centrally and longitudinally with overlapping edges, so that thesides maybe brought closer together or spaced wider apart to suit thewidth of the rows of vines. I

17 designates a sprocket wheel secured on the hub of one of the wheels10 over which and over a sprocket wheel, 18, on a shaft 19 supported inbearings on-the back of the frame there passes a sprocket-chain, 20, sothat the said shaft 19 may be operated from the wheels 10.

21 designates miter gears on the shafts 19, which gears mesh with likemiter gears 23 having openings through their centers on square verticalshafts 25 supported in bearings in the sides of the frame.

The vertical shafts 25 have miter gears 26 on their lower ends whichmesh with and drive similar miter gears 27 secured on horizontallyarranged shafts 28 which are provided with radially arranged beaters orbrushes 29 suitable for striking the vines on the sides opposite to thepan 16 and knocking, as it were, the bugs on the vines into the pansupported, as explained, between the rows of vines.

A seat 30 is suitably supported on the frame on which the driver of theimplement may sit.

Shafts (not shown) may be connected with the forward end of the machineto which a horse may be hitched so that he may walk between the rows ofvines operated upon by the beaters 29, and draw the apparatus over theground.

The bugs swept off the vines by the beaters into the pan will begathered or taken off from time to time and killed in any suitablemanner.

The pan 16 is extended from a line a little forward of the axle 12 tothe rear of the frame, and the beaters or brushes for striking the bugsfrom the vines are made substantially of the same length as the pan, sothat the vines, by a frequent beating of the same, may have the bugsquite thoroughly cleared therefrom.

Potato-beetles or bugs when disturbed on the vines fold their legs andwings and as sume an entirely quiescent condition for a considerabletime and remain as though dead, so that it is easy to deal with themwhen they are brushed off the vines into the pan.

'Thus far I have described the invention with respect to gathering thebugs from the vines on the pan 16, and taking'them from the latter anddestroying them, and under this mode of. employment the machine iscomplete. However, in some instances, I propose to carry the inventionfarther, and by slight additions to the particular means described andshown, gather the bugs from the pan and collect them in a hopper,provided with means for killing them and afterward discharging them uponthe ground in the field.

To the ends aforesaid, I have provided a hopper 31 that is supported onthe rear of the machine by a frame-work of rods 32 connected with theframe 14 in any suitable way, the said hopper being in width coextensivewith the width of the pan. At the bottom of the hopper there are tworollers 33 adapted to be rotated as, for instance by a crank 33 on theend of one of the said rollers so as to carry anything falling downbetween them-from the hopper through to a receiving board 34, inclinedlaterally so that anything falling on the said board 34 may be carriedoff to one side of the machine.

35 designates an endless belt of a width coextensive with the distancebetween the sides 16 of the pan, which belt 35 is carried over the rodor roller upon the shaft 19 forward over a roller 36 supported in theupper part of the frame, then down about the rollers 37 and 38 near thebase of the pan where the edges of the belt are carried along by asprocket-chain engaging the sprocketwheels 51 on the ends of the severalbeltcarrying shafts, above the pan 16, beneath the shaft 38 upwardlyinclinedly around a roller or shaft 39 and down against the scraper 40,which scrapes the bugs 013? the belt and then down around the rollers41, 42 and 43 and upward around a roller 44, whence it passes to theshaft 19 first mentioned in the course of the belt. By this lastdescribed means the bugs as fast as they are brushed from the vinesinward on to the belt above the pan, are carried-up and deposited 'inthe hopper 31, from whence they .are

crushed between the rollers 33 and let fall upon the inclined bottomstrip 34 as before described.

The shaft 19 will be operated from the sprocket-wheel 17 on the hub ofthe ground- Wheel 10 through the medium of the sprocketchain 20 and thesprocket-wheel 18 on the said shaft 19, the said sprocket-chain 20passing about the said sprocket-wheels. The sprocket wheel 51 on thesaid driven shaft 19, engaging the sprocket chains 35 on the margins oredges of the apron A.

The ends of the rollers 3944 will be suitably mounted in the frame ofthe machine, some of which has been omitted in the drawings for the sakeof perspicuity of illustration of the salient features of the invention,it being understood that the frame-work and some other parts may bevaried in form and arrangementwithin the scope of mechanical skillwithout departing from the nature or spirit of the invention.

The rollers 33 may be operated as often as may be desirable to keep thehopper from overflowing with bugs and to kill them faster than they cancrawl out from the hopper.

What is claimed is 1. An implement for gathering potato bugs, comprisingground wheels, their axle, and a frame supported therefrom, a pancarried between the wheels, an endless movable apron supported by theframe, means for operating it from the ground wheels, a hopper alsosupported by the frame, rollers for guiding the apron above the pan andto and in I proximity with the hopper to deposit bugs on the belt intosaid hopper.

2. An implement for gathering potato bugs, comprising ground wheels,their axle and a frame supported therefrom, a pan carried between thewheels, an endless movable apron, supported by the frame, means foroperating it from the ground wheels, a hopper also supported by theframe, rollers for guiding the apron above the pan and to and inproximity with the hopper to deposit bugs on the belt into said hopper,and means connected with the hopper to crush or kill the bugs anddeposit the same after being killed on the ground.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature. in presence of twowitnesses.

ABRAHAM J. BUHLER.

Witnesses:

ADoLPH HoUKANsoN, JOHN F. SOMMER.

